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A Revolution in Artificial Intelligence

The Cipher Brief: Where do you see the future of warfare in terms of incorporating artificial intelligence into weapons systems?

Paul Scharre: We are at the beginning of a revolution in artificial intelligence. There are any number of applications for all sorts of industries, and it seems inevitable that militaries will use them as well. Many of these applications are not very contentious—things like better logistics or data processing. But when it comes to how much freedom, or autonomy, is given to machines, it becomes a contentious issue when considering weapons and lethal force.